Graves Family Bulletin, Vol. 17, No. 8, Nov. 26, 2015

GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN

Vol. 17, No. 8, Nov. 26, 2015

A Free, Occasional, Online Summary of Items of Interest to Descendants of all Families of Graves, Greaves, Grieves, Grave, and other spelling variations Worldwide

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CONTENTS

** General Comments

** Family Tree DNA 2015 Christmas Sale & Mystery Rewards

** Status of Research on Various Graves/Greaves Families

** Next Generation Sequencing for Family Connections, and Haplogroup Projects

** Updates to the GFA Website

** Take a DNA Test If You Haven’t & Join the Graves DNA Project

** More Help for Adoptees

** Just Because It’s Online Doesn’t Mean It’s True

** Interesting Facts About American Colonial Life

** Why Do So Many Americans Think They Have Cherokee Blood?

** Should the Graves Family Association Start Videochatting?

** 23andMe Announces Meeting FDA Report Standards

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

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GENERAL COMMENTS

It has been much too long since the last issue of this bulletin. There are always other things demanding my attention.

The highlights of this issue are the Family Tree DNA 2015 Christmas sale, which will continue through the end of the year, and the need for and benefits of Y-DNA testing, with the emphasis on SNP testing via Big Y and other tests.

I wish all of you who celebrate the holiday a very happy Thanksgiving!

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FAMILY TREE DNA 2015 CHRISTMAS SALE & MYSTERY REWARDS

The Family Tree DNA 2015 Christmas sale started about 10 days ago and will continue until December 31 at 11:59 PM U.S. Central Time. Visit the FTDNA products page to see the discounted sale prices, and then log into your account to view your Mystery Reward coupon. If you don’t have an account, place an order and then you will. You will receive a new Mystery Reward coupon each week. This will be a randomized discount of up to $75 off. If you are not going to use your coupon, you can post it for someone else to use.

From your account you can order any discounted product you want. You can also order a SNP package at a sale price if it is listed on your page. To order the Big Y test (the most comprehensive Y-DNA SNP test, discussed and recommended in following articles), which is also on sale, click the Big Y link down the left side of your page. Although still quite expensive, this is presently the most helpful test for placement of genealogies relative to other genealogies.

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STATUS OF RESEARCH ON VARIOUS GRAVES/GREAVES FAMILIES

The following family groups and genealogies are some of those on which there has been activity over the past few months. The designations in parentheses are the DNA groups in the master Y-DNA summary table here. The year after each genealogy is the date of birth (or approximate date) of the earliest known ancestor. The two near-term objectives we have for each of these groups are:

(1) Determine whether all the genealogies in this group are descended from a common Graves/Greaves ancestor. The easiest way to do this is for a male descendant through an all-male line of descent from a Graves/Greaves ancestor to take an STR Y-DNA test (minimum of 37 markers, but 67 or 111 markers even better). If no male like this can be found, autosomal DNA tests of several descendants may give a lower level of ancestral confirmation.

(2) Determine how the genealogies within each group are related to each other and how they are descended from the common ancestor. This involves SNP testing for each family of interest of a male descendant through an all-male line. The best test for at least one male in each group is the Big Y. Both this test and the STR Y-DNA test are only available from Family Tree DNA.

GRAVES/GREEVES FAMILIES OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND DELAWARE, (I1-085)

Proven by DNA

35, William Graves and Grace ------ of Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland 1600

50 Humphrey Isaac Greaves of NC 1745

85 Thomas Graves of New Castle Co., DE, Quaker 1650

472 Thomas J. Graves of OH & DE 1813

Possibly connected

300 Thomas Greeves and Sarah Ann ------ of Washington, DC 1784

706 John Greeves and Mary Coe of Norfolk, England 1771

712 John Grierson of Scotland, and the Greer and Greeves Family of Ireland 1490

744 Daniel Greeves and Rosa ------ of Ireland & York, England 1802

918 Parents of Nicea Greeves and Thomas Breeden of Calvert Co., MD 1780

Others possibly connected (from April 1999 GFNL)

• Lewis Graves and Susan Catherine Barlow of DE (gen. 45)

• Levi C. Graves and Elizabeth D. Starbuck of IN, IL & WI (gen. 244)

• Jesse Graves and Elizabeth Lloyd of PA, Quakers (gen. 167)

• John Graves and Sarah ------ of VA & OH (gen. 160)

• Anna R. Graves and Sylvester Ratcliff of OH (gen. 797)

• Jonas Graves and Mary Bethel of Vinton Co., OH (gen. 798)

• Martha Graves and Isaac Cox of NJ (gen. 138)

• Margaret Graves and William Morton of Ireland & PA (gen. 367)

• Mary Graves and Anderson R. Hunter of Ross Co. & Stark Co., OH (gen. 650)

• Sarah J. Graves and Abner P. Talley of New Castle Co., DE (gen. 701, no genealogy)

• Rachel Graves and Joseph Wyatt of Ross Co. & Jackson Co., OH (gen. 780)

GRAVES FAMILIES OF VA, NC & GILES CO., TN, (R-Ungrouped), 1 test

Families shown by DNA analysis to be related: (in R-Ungrouped)

32 Campbell Graves of VA & Giles Co., TN 1801

Other families that may be related

82 John Graves and Ann Campbell of NC & Giles Co., TN 1775

GRAVES FAMILIES OF VA, NC, SC, TN & KY (R1-013)

Possibly descended from Grave/Graves families of Cambridgeshire, Cumbria/Cumberland & Lancashire, England (R1-377)

Shown by DNA

13, William Graves and Elizabeth ‑‑‑‑‑‑ of VA, NC & KY 1755

106, John Samuel Graves and Mary Blocker of SC 1780

148, John S. Graves of NC, Livingston Co., KY, and Johnson Co., IL 1776

441, John R. Graves and Hannah Corder of TN, KY & IL 1790

928, John Graves and Mary Ann Payne of TN & Madison Co., NC 1851

GRAVES/GREAVES FAMILIES OF CAROLINE CO., ALBERMARLE CO., AND HALIFAX CO., VA, AND SC (R1-018)

Families shown by DNA analysis to be related:

18 Jonathan Greaves and Elizabeth Dickson of NC & AL 1764

49 Ira Graves and Sallie ------ of VA 1790

84 Parents of William Lynch Graves of Albemarle Co., VA 1770

103 William Graves and Sarah Ford of SC & Franklin Co., MS 1785

145 John Graves of Halifax Co., VA 1735

155 Dr. Thomas Graves and Charity ------ of SC & Pike Co., AL 1768

169 (part) Richard Graves and Jane Fielding (or Cassandra -----) of VA, KY & White Co., IL 1773

217 Beverly Graves of Caroline Co., VA 1755

851 Archibald Graves and Patience ------ of Marion Co., SC 1804

906 Snead Graves of Albemarle Co., VA 1750

Other families that may be related

234 Hugh Rice Graves and Elizabeth Mawyer of Albemarle Co., VA 1822

286 James Graves and Susan Moran of VA 1797

909 Isaac Graves of Hancock Co., MS 1770

Additional families that may be related

57 Thomas Graves and Miss Liles of TN 1750

63 Archibald Graves of NC & Pike Co., AL 1785

73 Hardy Graves of SC & Pike Co., AL 1775

92 John Graves and Susan ------ of SC & Carter Co., TN 1746

223 John Graves and Edith June ------ of Albemarle Co., VA 1775

288 Sarah Graves and William Gregory of VA (no male Graves descendants) 1740

325 Jacob Graves and Mary Frances Dickerson of Caroline Co., VA (no male Graves descendants) 1826

575 Stephen Graves and Emma Wall of SC, Pike Co., AL & Panola Co., TX 1820

678 Stephen Graves of AL & TX 1835

941 Stephen Graves and Rachael Graves of NC, Pike Co., AL & Holmes Co., MS 1780

GENEALOGY 94, Part of GRAVES AND GREAVES FAMILIES POSSIBLY DESCENDED FROM GREAVES FAMILY OF BEELEY, DERBYSHIRE (R1-228)

94 William Graves and Sarah Fisher of Culpeper Co., VA (being gradually removed from gen. 270)

Many other connections to be found in this group, such as:

The probable connections of gen. 238, etc., with gen. 28.

Graves families of Randolph Co. & Surry Co., NC (see charts here and here)

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NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING FOR FAMILY CONNECTIONS, AND HAPLOGROUP PROJECTS

There has been much discussion on the ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) list about using SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) to find ancestry and determine relationships. When we first started using DNA testing to find ancestry, Y-DNA was tested for STRs (short tandem repeats). STRs are still very useful, but next generation sequencing to find SNPs in Y-DNA offers many advantages.

COMMENTS RELATING TO HAPLOGROUP R-M222

Although this haplogroup is presently known to apply to very few Graves/Greaves families, it is an example of what has been happening with SNP testing. There may be similar resources for other haplogroups also. The R-M222 SNP can be seen at the bottom right of the Y-DNA SNP chart on the GFA website here. R-M222 and Sub-clades, like other haplogroup projects, has exploded with discovery. The project itself has a membership of 1309 members (probably more now) with haplotypes. Much of the information about this haplogroup was provided by Susan Hedeen.

Anyone descended from R-M222, particularly those who are actively investigating downstream branches through SNP testing and/or NGS, should join this project. There is also a closed yahoo discussion group here.

In addition to the project pages, there is kept an ancillary spread sheet of 468 separate results of SNP testing results from all vendors, and includes

(1) Discovery results from 107 separate NGS results -- slightly over 22.86% of those in the spread sheet (NGS testing -- 93 BIGY and 14 FGC)

(2) Results from Single SNP testing and SNP panels (FTDNA, YSEQ, and ScotlandsDNA - Chromo2)

As a result of all of this discovery and investigative testing by genetic genealogy testers, The R-M222 sub-clade has multiplied and subdivided. Including its major Sub-Clades, there are confirmed results falling into 72 SNP defined sub-divisions of the Clade .

HOW TO PROCEED WITH SNP TESTING

The following discussion was written for genealogy 37, but similar approaches can be used for all other genealogies. For the Y-DNA R-haplogroup, there is a R-M269 project for those in the early stages of investigation. Almost everyone who has done some SNP testing can then benefit by joining either the R-U106 or the R-P312 project. Under R-P312 there are R-U152 and R-L21 projects.

The Y-DNA test results at 12 markers are really not meaningful. I think the best approach to figuring out the relationship of gen. 37 to other families is to pursue SNP testing. We are still in the very early stages of doing that. If you look at the R-haplogroup chart, which you can access by clicking on Y-DNA on the DNA drop-down tab at the top of every GFA website page and then going to the bottom of that Y-DNA page, you will see that gen. 37 is in the lower right of that chart (next to SNP L21. Gen. 270 is on another branch of this tree, down from SNP U152 (which is next to L21), so they cannot be closely related. On the other hand, gen. 168 and the part of gen. 169 descended from the branch that contains the descendants of Capt. Thomas Graves's son John Graves is also down from L21 (so closer to gen. 37 than gen. 270 is).

What is needed next is for a descendant of gen. 37 to take the Big Y test or at least do additional SNP testing. Then any other Graves families descended from L21 should do the same thing. You can be assisted in this by joining the appropriate haplogroup project. The two haplogroup projects that look most pertinent for you are the one for R-P312 and the one for R-L21. You can see a complete list of Y-DNA haplogroup projects on the ISOGG website here. When you click on the link for the particular project of interest, it will take you to an explanatory page on the FTDNA website. Then you can click on the "Join Request" or “Join” link at the top to join the project.

The page for the R-P312 project has a list of steps that every member should take. The most important ones (according to them) are to test to at least 67 markers with the STR Y-DNA test, and have at least one member of the group take the Big Y test,

HOW TO FIND WHICH HAPLOGROUP PROJECT YOU SHOULD JOIN

Everyone who has done Y-DNA testing and is interested in learning more should join a Y-haplogroup project. The following table provides a guide to which project should be joined.

If you are in this genealogy group	Included Genealogies	You should join this Y-DNA haplogroup project
R1-197	156, 197, 336	R-M343 (R1b ALL)

R1-013	13, 106, 148, 441, 928	R-M269
R1-018	18, 49, 57, 84, 103, 145, 155, 851	R-M269
R1-070	70	R-M269
R1-083	83, 428, 457	R-M269
R1-104	104, 547	R-M269
R1-126	126	R-M269
R1-364	364, 530	R-M269 and R-P312
R1-437	437	R-M269
R-Ungrouped	165 and most others in R-Ungrouped	R-M269

R1-105	105	R-U106
R1-169	147, 169 (from son Thomas), 956	R-U106
R1-228	28, 150, 166, 220, 228, 247, etc.	R-U106
R1-377	116, 199, 231, 377, 432, 683, 793	R-U106
R-Grieve	Grieve/Grieves	R-U106

R1-047	47, 172, 270, 443, 549, 741, 877, 935	R-U152

R1-168	168, 65, 169 (from son John)	R-L21
R-Ungrouped	37	R-L21, R-P312 and R-M269

E-Ungrouped	218, 431, 789	R-M2
E-Ungrouped	68, 366	R-M35

I1-327	592	I-M253
I1-316	283, 316	I-M253
I1-327	327	I-M253
I1-085	35, 85, 472	I-P109
I2-078	48, 78,189, 258, 381, 920	I-M223
I2-090	90	I-M223

J-Ungrouped	All in this group	J-M172

Q-Ungrouped	768	Q

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UPDATES TO THE GFA WEBSITE

Updated pages:

• African ancestry (african.php)

• Numerical genealogy listing (charts.php)

New Genealogies:

• Gen.471, Thomas Graves and Barbara ------ of Caswell Co., NC

Revised genealogies:

• Gen. 32, Campbell Graves of VA and Giles Co., TN

• Gen. 67, Susan Catherine Desnoozes Graves of Caswell Co., NC

• Gen. 68, Graves Family of Yorkshire and Mickleton Manor, Gloucestershire, England

• Gen. 168, Thomas Graves of Hartford, CT & Hatfield, MA

• Gen. 242, Gilliam Graves of Randolph Co., NC

• Gen. 270, John Graves/Greaves of Northamptonshire, England & Virginia

• Gen. 441, John R. Graves and Hannah Corder of TN, KY & IL

• Gen. 455, Parents of Harry Graves and Aquilla Graves of Caswell Co., NC

• Gen. 778, John W. Graves and Elizabeth ------ of Ross Co., OH & TX

• Gen. 978, Francis Greaves and Susannah Hasland of Harthill, Yorkshire, England

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TAKE A DNA TEST IF YOU HAVEN’T & JOIN THE GRAVES DNA PROJECT

EVERYONE SHOULD TAKE A DNA TEST

In addition to being an interesting thing to do, the Graves/Greaves research objectives will be furthered by:

• all males descended by an all-male line from a male Graves/Greaves ancestor taking a Y-DNA test

• everyone taking an autosomal DNA test (Family Finder on FTDNA).

JOIN THE GRAVES DNA PROJECT

The main benefit of joining the Graves DNA project on Family Tree DNA is that you can much more easily be helped by me and others with understanding what your results mean, and putting them to good use for both you and others. To join the Graves DNA project, you must either have tested at FTDNA or have transferred your autosomal DNA results to FTDNA from another testing company (Ancestry.com, 23andMe, or National Geographic). Once that has been done, the steps are:

• Sign into your personal page on FTDNA.

• Click on myFTDNA in the top left of the page.

• Click myGroups.

• Click Join Group.

• Find the Graves project and join. I and any other Graves project administrators will be automatically notified.

Our objective is to find everyone’s Graves/Greaves ancestry, and the more test results we have for comparison and analysis, the more success we will have.

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MORE HELP FOR ADOPTEES

Richard Hill recently wrote an article that was published in the September issue of Adoption Today, called “DNA Testing: Seven Guidelines for Adoptees.” You can see it on his blog here. In just two pages he has summarized the key tests and some major resources for getting help.

You can also see other helpful articles for adoptees and others on the main page of his DNA Testing Adviser blog. The Adoption Today website also can provide much more information here, although they seem to charge for a subscription and to view articles.

I have previously mentioned the helpful articles on the DNAeXplained blog of Roberta Estes. You can either search on her website for articles about adoptees and finding birth parents, or you can click here to go directly to that section.

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JUST BECAUSE IT’S ONLINE DOESN’T MEAN IT’S TRUE

We all know about incorrect information in submitted genealogies. People have been complaining about errors, sometimes so obvious that you wonder how they could have been made, for years. Because Ancestry.com is such a major repository of submitted genealogies, they have received much of the criticism. However, there are also outright frauds in the field of genealogy, and some of these have managed to be perpetuated through ignorance of their fraudulent nature.

In a recent article in Canada’s History magazine, titled “Roots: Family frauds”, author Paul Jones writes that researchers should beware perpetuating falsehoods from the past. He discusses Gustave Anjou and others who fabricated genealogies, offers some signs of a faulty pedigree, and warns against "self-imposed" deceptions based on online sources.

“The mid-nineteenth century in particular was an era of what one commentator has termed “parvenu genealogy,” characterized by specious claims of connections to wealth, nobility, and heraldic entitlement. Many con men of the day, and at least one woman, produced false family trees at a profit for a credulous public. Even the most respected genealogist of the era, Horatio Gates Somerby, whose works can still be purchased on Amazon, sometimes embellished his research to ensure happy outcomes for clients.”

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INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AMERICAN COLONIAL LIFE

A recent article in the Ancestry.com blog was interesting. It was titled “Six Unbelievable, But True, Facts About Colonial Life.” The six facts that were listed are:

• Courtship practices included bed sharing.

• Blended families were common. During the Colonial era the average marriage lasted less than 10 years because of high mortality, so remarriage was frequent.

• Parents expected some children to die.

• Jobs were extremely limited.

• Currency wasn’t just cash or coin.

• Imported goods were sometimes way expensive. For example, bed sheets could cost more than a bed.

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WHY DO SO MANY AMERICANS THINK THEY HAVE CHEROKEE BLOOD?

This article on Slate caught my attention partly because it is subtitled “The History of a Myth.” My expectation was that the author would discuss that many of those who thought they have Cherokee ancestry are descended from another Native American tribe or do not have any Native American ancestry at all. Although those statements may be true, that isn’t mainly what this article is about.

The article states that more Americans claim descent from at least one Cherokee ancestor than any other Native American group. In 2010, the federal census reported that 819,105 Americans self-identified as Cherokee. According to the article, the main reason for the large number of Cherokee descendants is that during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, as European colonization engulfed their territory (in what is now Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama), Cherokees began altering their social and cultural traditions to better survive and prosper. They began emphasizing marrying outside their own clans, and sought to solidify alliances through intermarriage. There was also intermarriage with Africans. However, “among black Americans, as among Americans as a whole, the belief in Cherokee ancestry is more common than actual blood ties.”

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SHOULD THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION START VIDEOCHATTING?

Effective communication is very important to both individuals and organizations. The Graves Family Association uses a website, a Facebook page, email, and this bulletin. We used to also use conferences and group meetings, but they are a lot of work to organize, and so we use them much less now. However, there are other methods of communication. One of them is videoconferencing or video chatting. This is used by the Guild of One Name Studies, and many other organizations, and by many informal groups of family and friends. An article in the most recent issue of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter discusses an improvement for Skype (now part of Microsoft) that might be of interest to us.

Should we consider doing something along this line? Does anyone want to do the organizing?

Dick Eastman’s article is titled “Microsoft Skype Simplifies Group Video Chats.” It says that for chats by families, friends, genealogy societies, and other groups, even if the participants are separated by long distances, Skype is a good option. “Skype has offered group video chats for some time but it was always a bit awkward to set up such a chat and to invite others to join in. Now the process has been simplified.”

“Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac, or Skype for Web users can generate a unique URL and send it to others, enabling them to join a group and start chatting. The recipients don't have to be Skype users; they can receive the URL via email, Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, and/or other channels.

The new chat-invitation feature enables group instant-messaging chats, voice chats and/or video chats.

This new feature is now available almost everywhere within the United States and should be available in the rest of the world within a few weeks.”

Details may be found on the Skype blog here.

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23ANDME ANNOUNCES THEIR REPORTS NOW MEET FDA STANDARDS

I recently received an email with the following announcement from Anne Wojcicki, CEO of DNA testing company 23andMe. Especially for those of you interested in the health aspects of DNA testing, this may be welcome news.

“Today marks a great milestone in the history of personal genetics. I am thrilled to let you know that 23andMe is now the first and only genetic service available directly to you that includes reports that meet FDA standards.

After nearly two years of work with the FDA, extensive user comprehension testing and a complete redesign, 23andMe is launching an entirely new experience that includes carrier status, wellness, trait and ancestry reports. We have also developed new and improved tools to share and compare your genetics with friends and family - and for those of you participating in research, we will provide new insights to explore.

As one of our earlier customers, you will continue to have access to your current health reports. The new experience will include redesigned versions of many of the same health and ancestry reports that you currently have. We have also added some new features and tools.

Our team will be rolling out the new experience to you by early next year. We will send you an email when your account is updated.

If you have any questions on the new experience, you can visit our new FAQ page. Additionally, we have updated our Privacy Statement and Terms of Service to support the new features, which I encourage you to read.

We are committed to bringing you a world-class service which provides you with ongoing updates. The genetics revolution is here and we are excited to enable customers like you to keep learning about your DNA. Today is only the beginning!”

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ABOUT THIS BULLETIN:

This bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves, ken.graves@gravesfa.org.

TO SUBMIT MATERIAL TO THIS BULLETIN:

Send any material you would like to have included in this bulletin to ken.graves@gravesfa.org. The editor reserves the right to accept, edit or reject any material submitted.

TO JOIN THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION:

If you do not already belong to the GFA, you can join by sending $20 per year to Graves Family Association, 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093 (more details on GFA website). Payment may also be sent electronically to gfa@gravesfa.org via PayPal.

COPYRIGHTS:

Although the contents of this bulletin are copyrighted by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves, you are hereby granted permission, unless otherwise specified, to re-distribute part or all to other parties for non-commercial purposes only.